


The Crush Unseen

by ianlipgallagher (mdobbs1614)



Series: Prompts [52]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, New Friends, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:58:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9074905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mdobbs1614/pseuds/ianlipgallagher
Summary: Prompt: Gallavich Workplace AU - "we both want the same guy so we have a silent competition to see who will get to date him first but now im in love with you how did this happen im confused let's date instead???"





	

Ian is sitting in his cubicle, drinking his morning coffee and staring at his co-worker Travis as he makes copies.

 

Ian’s had a crush on Travis ever since he started working at this insurance company two years ago. The man is tall, about 6’3”, he has short, brown, curly hair and best of all, a great ass.

 

Thankfully, Travis’s job includes spending lots of time bent over the copy machine. So Ian has a direct view of that ass about twelve times a day. 

 

Apparently Ian's mouth decides to verbalize his thoughts, cause a second later he hears the words “Fuck, he’s so hot” escape from between his lips. 

 

“Who? Oh Travis?” A voice chirps from behind Ian. “Yeah, he’s real fucking hot."

 

Ian spins quickly in his chair and comes face to face with Mickey Milkovich, the new guy. 

 

They've shared a cubicle wall ever since Mickey was hired two months ago, but this is their first real interaction.

 

“Shit, you heard that?” Ian whispers. 

 

“Hey, doesn’t bother me, man.” Mickey smirks. “I also know a great ass when I see one."

 

“He does have an amazing ass, doesn’t he?” Ian sighs.

 

“Mmhmm.” Mickey nods. “I’ve been thinking about asking him out. Any tips?"

 

From some reason, that notion shakes Ian to his core.

 

“Yeah, don’t!” Ian answers sternly. 

 

“What? Why?” Mickey frowns. 

 

“Cause I’m asking him out!” Ian says defensively, ignoring that fact that he hasn’t even had more than a few conversations with Travis the whole time he’s been here. 

 

“Haven’t you worked here for years or some shit?” Mickey quips. “You had your chance. Time for some new blood.” 

 

Ian leans in menacingly. “Oh if you wanna do this, we’ll do this.” He growls. 

 

“You’re on.” Mickey snips, plopping back down in his desk chair with a grunt. 

 

*

 

From that point on, it’s total war. No rules. No guidelines. Free for all. 

 

Mickey makes the first move.

 

He shows up to work the next day with an extra coffee in hand, heading straight for Travis’s desk, which happens to be to Ian’s line of sight, so he watches the whole thing go down with a scowl on his face.

 

“Yo Travis.” Mickey greets suavely. “The coffee place accidentally gave me an extra drink if you want it.” He offers, batting his eyelashes. 

 

“Sure. Thanks.” Travis accepts with a quick smile before returning to his work, not sparing Mickey another glance. 

 

Mickey frowns to himself. Maybe there’s a reason that a hot guy like Ian has had trouble with this one. Clearly this courtship won’t be as easy as he originally thought. 

 

He ignores Ian’s smug expression and walks directly to his cubicle to plot. 

 

*

 

Ian makes the next move, cleverly using the fact that they’ve worked together and known each other longer to his advantage. 

 

“Hey Travis. Me and a few guys are grabbing some lunch down the street real fast if you wanna join.” Ian proposes.

 

He knows that Travis is always super busy so he makes sure to emphasize that this excursion won’t take long. 

 

“Uh, yeah. I have time for a quick lunch.” Travis says after checking his watch and typing something in on his computer. “Let’s go."

 

Ian turns to wink at a gawking Mickey before leading Travis to the door. 

 

*

 

The two men go back and forth like this for a while.

 

One will help Travis with his work load, the other will invite him to a party that weekend. Back and forth and back and forth until Ian finally pulls out the big guns.

 

It takes a long time for Ian to convince himself that he can do this, but it’s the only idea he has left.

 

He’s spent some time with Travis over the past month and he feels like they have enough common ground now for him to just bite the bullet and ask.

 

Before he walks over to his crush’s desk, he knocks on the cubicle wall to prompt Mickey to peep over.

 

“Watch this.” Ian says smugly before gliding over to Travis’s cubicle.

 

“Hey, Travis, do you have a minute?”

 

“Sure, Ian. What’s up?"

 

“I, uh, I wanted to know if you might want to have dinner with me this weekend?” Ian asks shyly.

 

“Like a date?” Travis squints.

 

In that moment, all the reasons why Ian has never asked Travis out before come rushing into his mind.

1\. The man is always busy. Like 24/7. Never takes a break.

2\. They have never had a conversation longer than a few minutes. What would they talk about for an hour over dinner?

3\. Travis is very secluded. What if he doesn't date?

 

And finally, the main reason that Ian has never asked Travis out before is: He doesn’t even know if Travis is gay. 

 

Surprisingly enough, all of Ian’s fears were for not, because at that moment, Travis accepts. 

 

“Okay, sure. I’d like that.” Travis smiles. “Friday? After work?” 

 

Ian manages to nod despite his shock and distress.

 

“Okay.” He squeaks out before all but running back to his desk. 

 

Once he catches his breath, he notices that Mickey’s not peering over the desk anymore.

 

Ian stands to look over the cubicle wall at his friend. He takes in the sight of Mickey pouting as he types angrily on his keyboard. 

 

“Ya pissed that I got a date?” Ian teases. 

 

“Fuck off.” Mickey says venomously, not even bothering to look up at Ian.

 

Ian takes a step back, sliding into his seat and pondering the situation.

 

Mickey’s probably just mad that he lost, right? That’s it. 

 

At least, Ian hopes that’s it. He’s realizing now that talking to Mickey has made work a lot more fun than it’s ever been before and he’d hate for that to end. 

 

*

 

The end of the week comes which means it’s time for his date with Travis. 

 

This also marks a full four days since he and Mickey last spoke.

 

Ian finds that he’s more upset about that lost friendship than he is excited for this date. In fact, he’s almost dreading the date. 

 

Do he and Travis have anything in common? The guy is a total mystery. That makes for a good crush, the whole tall, dark and handsome thing, but that doesn’t make for a promising date night. 

 

He walks out with Travis at five, shooting Mickey an apologetic glance as he exits, but the man looks away quickly once their eyes meet.

 

Ian leads them to a restaurant two blocks over where Travis proceeds to talk about the company the entire time.

 

At first Ian thinks it’s just because that’s their common ground and where they’ve always interacted until now.

 

But as the night progresses, it becomes obvious that Travis is a workaholic by choice. This is probably the first date that the man has been on in years because as far as Ian can tell, Travis doesn’t do anything but work. 

 

Ian does his best to make it out of there with little incident, the two parting with an awkward handshake before they go their separate ways.

 

As Ian walks home, his mind wanders to Mickey.

 

Ian can’t help but feel like he’s lost a great friend over a shitty date and the more he thinks about it, the more Ian feels like maybe there’s more to him and Mickey than just a silly competition.

 

He decides right then and there to talk to Mickey immediately come Monday morning.

 

*

 

After a long and dragging weekend, Monday finally rolls around.

 

Ian is out of bed and dressed before his alarm has even gone off. 

 

He’s determined to repair his friendship with Mickey no matter what. Nothing can stop him today. 

 

He pops into a coffee shop on 5th on his way, grabbing a drink for himself and Mickey, which will hopefully act as a good ice breaker. 

 

Ian still gets to work thirty minutes early, so he’s forced to sit at his desk, bouncing his leg anxiously and burning a hole in the door with his eyes. 

 

He nearly jumps from his seat when an pair of ice blue eyes finally cross through the doorway. 

 

Ian doesn’t even let Mickey stop by his desk before he is pulling the man into a conference and beginning to talk.

 

“Mickey, I-“ 

 

“Ian, wait.” Mickey interrupts the speech Ian stayed up all night revising. “You deserve an apology. I saw you ask Travis out and I got mad, but I shouldn’t have just blocked you out all week. That was stupid and rude and I only did it cause I-. I, uh-."

 

Mickey takes a deep breath.

 

“Ian, I like you.” He rushes out.

 

“What?"

 

“I’m sorry if that makes things weird between us or whatever, but I owed you an explanation, so yeah."

 

“You like me?” Ian asks, brows furrowed.

 

“Yeah.” Mickey nods. “I didn’t realize until I saw you asking Travis out and I realized that that pit in my stomach wasn’t anger, but jealousy.” 

 

“Fuck.” Ian breathes.

 

“I’m sorry if-"

 

“No. It’s just-. Fuck.” Ian sighs. “I, uh-." Ian huffs out a laugh. "I like you too.” 

 

“Really?” Mickey eyebrows raise up his forehead.

 

“Yes.” Ian smiles. “I spent all week thinking about how to get you to stop being mad at me. And then the date with Travis was shit and I spent the whole weekend planning my speech to talk to you. How did I not realize-“ Ian scoffs. “Fuck, I’m so stupid."

 

Mickey laughs. 

 

“What?” Ian grins.

 

“We wasted so much time and money on that tool.” Mickey jokes.

 

Ian giggles. “Maybe now we can just spend time and money on each other, yeah?"

 

“Yeah.” Mickey nods. “I’d like that.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Cute maybe? Tell me your thoughts.
> 
> Hit me up on [my tumblr](http://www.ianmickgallagher.tumblr.com)


End file.
